The Ginger Test

Remember my fitness story? Click here if you missed it. I wrote there about the supplements I take to stay away from free radicals. Looks like I'm going to give a brief lecture here, so bear with me. And note that I didn't review my Chemistry, so I'm going to explain this as layman as possible.

Our cells are composed of smaller particles called atoms. A healthy/normal atom has two electrons. A free radical only has one electron. Now, when we are exposed to free radicals, let's say stress (any kind, including a fight with your boyfriend or girlfriend..hehe), pollution, consuming junk food or high fat meal, the free radical steals the electron from the normal cell, which then converts the normal cell to another free radical. But when we eat foods that are high in antioxidants, more electrons are added to each atom (could be 3 or more), so even if a free radical abducts one electron, the antioxidant-rich-cell has spare. Get it? I still take supplements because I am not able to eat enough fruits and veggies everyday and I (and my family) only trust Usana (this is not paid, I just want to share).

I made an experiment of how effective the supplement is.

The ingredients for tinolang manok are...hihi, kidding! I chopped 3 slices of ginger (because it's the only available in the kitchen). Let's pretend the gingers are our cells.

plain water!

The gingers are put to each container. The left most (Ginger A) didn't have any water or supplement. It was just plain ginger, exposed on air for days. The middle container (Ginger B) is where I put Usana antioxidant. The right most (Ginger C) is where I put another vitamin supplement. I won't mention the name, but don't worry, it's not available in the Philippine market. The tablets are starting to dissolve here.

After 24 hours, Ginger A, obviously withered due to lack of water.

Usana had an orange color while the other was amber. This was 24 hours after. I waited for another 2 days. I was not able to take photos on the 48th hour.

After 72 hours, here's how the gingers looked like. Gingers B and C looked the same, right (except the color of course because they absorbed the supplements' natural color)? Let's look at another angle.

Ginger B looks the same in all angles. Ginger C became like this.

A closer look

Be the judge. To see is to believe. Originally, I planned to do this experiment for 7 days, but I was more scared of Dengue (stagnant water..haha). And the water was evaporating so quickly so I stopped on the third day. That's it! Everyday, I feel like my cells are becoming healthier. My mom and dad started taking Usana last year. Before that, my dad (he's 62) hates to look at his pictures because he looks so old daw. Whenever he looks at his photos, he would mumble, "Ang tanda ko na (with a sad face)." Then months after, all of us noticed that his face was glowing, like he had a botox treatment. It was visible on photos. Seriously, he looks younger on his recent photos compared from 2 years ago.

This photo was taken on 2009 Christmas Eve

Photo taken at my renewal of vows, 2010

This is his latest photo, taken last May at my cousin's wedding. If I didn't know the dates and was asked to arrange the photos from remotest to latest, I will no doubt choose this last photo as the remotest because he looks much younger than the 2 photos. I don't know if you noticed, but I (we) did. :)